The first of Reichl's self-indulgences was likewise enough.

Sophie Coe, anthropologist and culinary historian, gives us a cook's tour of the nuclear areas of New World civilization. Her book is a botanically, zoologically, and nutritionally informed synthesis of information on the New World's contribution to the world's inventory of foodstuffs and, most importantly, on how the use of these foodstuffs coalesced in the culinary cultures of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca. It is the first work of its kind on the past civilizations of the New World. . . . This book is essential reading for Americanist anthropologists as well as scholars in a variety of other disciplines, and it constitutes serious pleasure reading for lay readers who are cooks, eaters, and students of foodways.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. For their enormously successful Material World, photojournalist Menzel and writer D'Aluisio traveled the world photographing average people's worldly possessions. In 2000, they began research for this book on the world's eating habits, visiting some 30 families in 24 countries. Each family was asked to purchase—at the authors' expense—a typical week's groceries, which were artfully arrayed—whether sacks of grain and potatoes and overripe bananas, or rows of packaged cereals, sodas and take-out pizzas—for a full-page family portrait. This is followed by a detailed listing of the goods, broken down by food groups and expenditures, then a more general discussion of how the food is raised and used, illustrated with a variety of photos and a family recipe. A sidebar of facts relevant to each country's eating habits (e.g., the cost of Big Macs, average cigarette use, obesity rates) invites armchair theorizing. While the photos are extraordinary—fine enough for a stand-alone volume—it's the questions these photos ask that make this volume so gripping. After considering the Darfur mother with five children living on $1.44 a week in a refugee camp in Chad, then the German family of four spending $494.19, and a host of families in between, we may think about food in a whole new light. This is a beautiful, quietly provocative volume. (Nov.)
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Book Description
On the banks of Mali ’s Niger River, Soumana Natomo and his family gather for a communal dinner of millet porridge with tamarind juice. In the USA, the Ronayne-Caven family enjoys corndogs-on-a-stick with a tossed green salad. This age-old practice of sitting down to a family meal is undergoing unprecedented change as rising world affluence and trade, along with the spread of global food conglomerates, transform diets worldwide. In HUNGRY PLANET, the creative team behind the best-selling Material World, Women in the Material World, and MAN EATING BUGS presents a photographic study of families from around the world, revealing what people eat during the course of one week. Each family ’s profile includes a detailed description of their weekly food purchases; photographs of the family at home, at market, and in their communities; and a portrait of the entire family surrounded by a week ’s worth of groceries. To assemble this remarkable comparison, photojournalist ! Peter Menzel and writer Faith D ’Aluisio traveled to 24 countries and visited 30 families from Bhutan and Bosnia to Mexico and Mongolia. The resulting series of photographs and facts is a 30-course feast of visual and quantitative information. Featuring essays on the politics of food by Marion Nestle, Charles C. Mann, and Alfred W. Crosby, and photo-essays on international street food, meat markets, fast food, and cookery, this captivating chronicle offers a riveting look at what the world really eats.

Cinny's Mom wrote:I agree with the recommendation for The Apprentice. I thought the book was interesting and very entertaining.

On the other end of the spectrum, I recently read Poisons of the Past, an empirical study of the affect that certain food disease had on the rye bread eaters of medieval Europe. Once you get past the charts and graphs, the actual prose is very interesting. If you love empirical studies, this will be right up your alley. Basically, all that devil-fear and witch hunting may be traceable to diseased bread.

Although somewhat cheesy and technically a travel book, Under the Tuscan Sun contains enough recipies and food-related anecdotes to be worthy of a mention.

I recently read Poisons of the Past, an empirical study of the affect that certain food disease had on the rye bread eaters of medieval Europe.

bryan wrote:Laurie Colwin was mentioned by Apple way back. And I agree that she is sorely missed.

My latest great food read is The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. I cannot begin to describe what a great book this is.

Jonah wrote:The Apprentice, My Life in the Kitchen, by Jacques Pepin

David Hammond wrote:

Jonah wrote:The Apprentice, My Life in the Kitchen, by Jacques Pepin

I especially enjoyed the first half or so of the book where Pepin talks about his early years in kitchens in France and then New York (Pavillon, etc). His entrepreneurship was quite impressive, as were early relationships with Beard, Claiborne (but not Genet ).